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Real World Digital Photography, 2nd Edition
Customer Reviews: 1 Average Customer Rating:  Write a Review and tell the world about this title! People who purchase this book frequently purchase: Books on similar topics, in best-seller order:Books from the same publisher, in best-seller order:
Whether you're just making the transition from a lifetime of traditional photography
or are looking to bring your digital photography skills in line with today s
market, if you re serious about digital photography, you need this book. In
the four years since the first edition was published, just about every aspect
of digital photography has changed (often radically) and it s all covered in
these pages. Organized in four major sections Digital Processing Essentials,
Digital Processing Techniques, The Digital Darkroom, and Output and Presentation
the focus here is on getting great pictures and spectacular printed output through
a combination of smart techniques and the right equipment. As with all of the
titles in the Real World series, the authors here realize that this entails
learning not just techniques but the concepts behind them. For a professional-level
understanding of the digital photography process from how a digital camera works
to advice on buying cameras and accessories, choosing hardware and software,
downloading and outputting images, and more this is the place to turn.
Customer Reviews
Customer Reviews: 1 Average Customer Rating: May 17, 2004 Dennis Chamberlain from Dallas, Texas
Two Thumbs Up!
Two thumbs up! I loved this book. You can just use it as a reference book for questions about lenses, filters, white balance, metering, or practically any other photography subject whether film or digital. However, many will prefer to read it cover-to-cover, even at 700 pages. The flow of the book is aided by innovative and intuitive approaches for the explanation of countless topics, including the comparison of the destructive effects of over-editing to too much sanding on a wood project. And the authors aren't afraid to voice their opinions about the benefits (or lack thereof) of Photoshop plug-ins, nor are they hesitant to make bold predictions such as the forecast that tiff might eventually replace the psd format.
Every step along the way, the authors illustrate the differences between digital and traditional photography, which can give you a better understanding of photography in general. For example, the five-page analysis of the similarities and differences between film grain and digital noise provided a great platform for understanding both. The ten-page explanation of the ramifications of digital cameras CCD's being smaller than a 35mm film frame provides a thorough understanding of lenses in general. The breadth of the book is, well, breathtaking, with every conceivable topic being covered -- from the authors' opinions on the best way to use histograms to artistic ideas for composition of your pictures to recommendations on which type of camera bag to purchase! Whew!
Speaking of histograms, a three-page section reporting Photoshop co-creator Thomas Knoll's opinions about the ideal histogram was pretty profound information that I've never seen anywhere else. For me, at least, this was worth the price of the entire book.
This book should fit everyone, but if you're currently using a film SLR and you're thinking about making the move to digital, it is a must. It gives you all the information youll need to make the right decision on whether to go for a point and shoot or an SLR, and which features you might want. It might, in fact, cause you to decide to keep you film-based SLR and buy a digital point and shoot camera. Even if this book were to make you decide against making the digital conversion, I feel certain you'll gain a much better understanding of your film camera as a result of the in-depth film vs. digital comparisons.
Dennis Chamberlain Adobe Certified Expert Photoshop CS
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